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Peter Sagan wins prologue of Tour of Alberta

Ryder Hesjedal in top 10

Peter Sagan (Slovakia) rides to the finish line to win the prologue (time trial race) at the 2013 Tour of Alberta professional cycling race in Edmonton on Tuesday September 3, 2013. The 7.3 kilometre prologue race against the clock will seed the riders by best timePhoto: LARRY WONG/EDMONTON JOURNAL

EDMONTON — Pre-race favourite Peter Sagan is the first man to wear the yellow jersey in the inaugural stage of the Tour of Alberta cycling race on Tuesday.

The Cannondale team rider took a commanding 12-second lead over his nearest competitor in the opening 7.3 kilometre time trial. Victoria’s Ryder Hesjedal was 30 seconds back of Sagan.

The 7.3-kilometre prologue was laid out over a twisty, up-and-down loop linking Edmonton’s downtown, the provincial legislature and the city’s leafy river valley neighbourhoods.

Margins are expected to be tight and battles for time bonuses will be crucial.

With the race’s lone mountain stage cancelled due to road damage from floods early in the summer, there will be no epic climbing stages to string out the peloton and separate contenders. Most stages are expected to end in bunch sprints, in which all riders in the first group to cross the finish receive the same time.

Because they’re battling only against the clock, Tuesday’s time trial was one of the choice spots in the race for riders to squeeze out a few precious seconds on their rivals.

The stage, during a short but steep ascent out of the river valley, also offered King of the Mountain points for the polka-dot jersey awarded to the best overall climber.

On Wednesday, the race moves north along Edmonton’s refinery row, then loops back south through rolling parkland. The 159-kilometre stage ends in Camrose.

The Tour of Alberta then cycles through prairies, badlands and foothills before ending up in downtown Calgary on Sunday for a total of 900 kilometres of racing.

The Tour is the largest and most highly-ranked bike race ever held in Canada. It involves six top-ranked teams from the European Pro Tour and eight teams from the Continental tour, as well as the Canadian national team.

Its 117 riders include 11 winners of single stages or one-day events, five current national champions, two world champions and two major European tour winners, including Hesjedal, winner of the 2012 Giro d’Italia.